Final Preparations And Goodbyes

Boynton Beach 

One of the smallest areas on Crossroads was the busiest area this morning. In our downstairs hallway, we began the first of three loads of laundry, I set up to do my yoga and stretching, and Barry prepared to change the oil in the generator. We had everything cleaned up by 1:00 as the tide reached the perfect level to have Barry's Uncle Ben come aboard. He lives 15 minutes from the Boynton Harbor Marina and drove over excited to get the tour. Barry met him in the parking lot as I went on a quick cleaning mission from bow to stern.

We were all quite happy when Ben stepped right off the dock, to the gateway sill, and then one step down to the side deck. Barry gave a condensed version of his "quick" tour and then we were off to run a few errands. Ben drove us to see his home as well as the home of his daughter/Barry's cousin. He then graciously took us to the post office and Publix where I loaded up on the usual perishable items.  Boynton Beach could be our very last time ashore in Florida before crossing The Bahamas. If we luck out and get a weather window, we will turn left and fast track it across the Gulf Stream. The other possibility leaves us waiting for good weather in Key Biscayne. In that case, we'll go ashore to stretch our legs and have the opportunity for a final restock redux. Back on Crossroads, I managed to get all the purchases in the refrigerator. We all celebrated by visiting the nearby Banana Boat restaurant for an early dinner. After saying our final goodbyes, Barry and I walked back to the marina. A cold front moved through last night and today was much chillier than yesterday. 

I reluctantly put on a sweatshirt before we took a walk around the marina and then to an adjacent park. A large hibiscus hedge was covered with blooms the size of my hand. From the public fishing pier we looked back at Crossroads occupying the entirety of the transient dock. In the near background is the Ocean Avenue Bascule Bridge. We caught tonight's twilight opening for the passage of a northbound tug. When we depart tomorrow morning we will not request an opening. Instead, we will make a U-turn and head back to Lake Worth and await an offshore window to Key Biscayne. We've taken the ICW through Fort Lauderdale before and prefer not to deal with all those bridges and traffic again this year.